Poll: Governor Paterson Still Hated, But Not Because He's Black

Attorney general Andrew Cuomo has been beating the snot out of Governor David Paterson in polls since time immemorial, but the surveyors of Quinnipiac just decided to ask New York voters about race -- the black-white kind, as well as the 2010 gubernatorial kind. The good news is that by a margin of 80 to 14 percent, respondents think that if Cuomo takes Rick Lazio's advice and declares against the sitting Governor, it "will not be racially divisive." And, they get right up front, black voters feel this way, 73-22. "Voters, Including Blacks, See No Race Problem For Cuomo," runs the relieved headline. Nothing brings people together like governmental incompetence! (Whites more emphatically agree, 81-13, but you know how they are.)

Cuomo continues to beat the snot out of Paterson in the Q poll of Democrats, 55-23. But that's down from the 60-23 drubbing Paterson took in December. Also, his unfavorable rating's down from 65 to 49. Maybe just thinking about race made respondents feel a little kinder to him. (As a man, we mean, not as a governor -- his job approval rating actually went down, from 40 to 37. Keep beating up the legislature, Dave -- their approval rating is 16 percent! )

While Paterson's dismal vote-for number remained firm, "Don't Know" gained an extra four points, and "Someone Else" came up with one percent. (If they added an exclamation point at the end, we bet that'd rise to five percent at least.)

For the first time that we can recall in a poll, Rick Lazio is actually beating Paterson -- by one point, but still. Cuomo, of course, hammers the long-unheard-from Republican, but by slightly less than previously -- 57-25, as opposed to December's 62-22. Maybe by 2014 he'll catch up.

They ask about Kirsten Gillibrand, too, who beats sorta-challenger Harold Ford and Republican Bruce Blakeman. Her customarily high don't-know number, which was up in this week's Marist poll, has dropped in Quinnipiac's, from 58 to 44. (Those points were apparently distributed evenly between her favorable and unfavorable numbers.) Her opponents' don't-knows are 70 (Ford) and 84 (Blakeman).